Finding camping sites was easier than thought, with 4WD getting us into many pullouts and abandoned gravel pits

Budd Stanley, Driving

The clear ice of the only road to drive over the Arctic Ocean

Budd Stanley, Driving

Driving over the Arctic Ocean is a very surreal experience

Budd Stanley, Driving

Nissan Titan XD Cummins on the Tuktoyaktuk ice road

Budd Stanley, Driving

Pushed off the road by a trucker on the Dempster – the Titan XD was totally undamaged and was extracted easily with the help of Gemstone Off-Road kinetic tow ropes

Budd Stanley, Driving

The ice road to Tuktoyaktuk will be a thing of the past soon enough, so a last-chance Arctic adventure with Nissan's Titan was in order

by
Budd Stanley | March 29, 2017

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“What am I doing here?” These are words I’ve uttered several times before, and while the situations I was in when muttering them were extreme, the conclusion to each scenario would become an adventure of a lifetime and only prove to inspire even more extreme adventures. In this particular instance, I was shivering away in -35°C in a rooftop tent perched above a 2017 Nissan TitanXD in the middle of the Northwest Territories.

My breath was turning into ice crystals on the roof of the tent and around the opening in my -30°C sleeping bag. Snow would fall inside the tent with any movement, and covering my face would only melt the ice, which would then freeze my eyes shut as soon as I rolled back over. It was a rather annoying catch-22 that kept sleep to a minimum on the Dempster Highway.

The Titan Arctic Challenge was an overland expedition from Vancouver, B.C., to Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T. By “overland expedition,” I am referring to the fastest growing genre of the off-roading lifestyle – that of self-sustained, long-distance adventures to explore new cultures and environments, foregoing the luxuries of hotels, restaurants and paved highways – as much as possible.

The ice road to Tuktoyaktuk is in its final year of operation, as a replacement all-season road will be completed this fall. This would be the last chance anyone would have to drive over the Arctic Ocean, something I had always dreamed of doing. So, it was a “now or never” decision.

Two Nissan Titan XDs in PRO-4X trim would be our steeds, already suited for the task at hand. However, such an adventure calls for some specific add-ons. We grabbed a ladder rack and fabricated it to conform with the Titan XD and the required expedition equipment.

Getting up in -30°C is not an easy thing to do

Budd Stanley, Driving

While cold, some of our best sleeps were in the Treeline Outdoors Tamarack tents

Budd Stanley, Driving

Finding camping sites was easier than thought, with 4WD getting us into many pullouts and abandoned gravel pits

Budd Stanley, Driving

Nissan Titan XDs at lands’ end

Budd Stanley, Driving

On top, we mounted Canadian sourced Treeline Outdoors Tamarack rooftop tents, well-built and ready to give shelter in the extreme environments. Rigid Industries SR2 lightbars and Scene LED’s would provide synthetic daylight. Being self-sufficient means being able to extract yourself from a sticky situation. TRED recovery ramps, Gemstone Off-Road kinetic tow ropes and a Warn Zeon 10-s winch were at the ready should we find ourselves in trouble. A good tool kit, shovels, radios, camping kit, first aid kit and Arctic weather clothing were also important packing.

With trucks prepped, Mark Jennings-Bates, Steph Jeavons and I found ourselves on the Vancouver waterfront, dipping our tires into the Pacific Ocean to begin the 17-day and 8,500-kilometre journey to the Arctic.

Expedition start in Vancouver

Only a few hours out of Vancouver, we ran straight into a snow storm. The roads quickly disappeared under a blanket of white and falling snow hypnotizing us in the headlights. Day after day, the snow kept falling. Low cloud obscured our view of the magnificent peaks throughout B.C., but at the same time gave a ghostly feel to the environment – the scenery slowly revealing itself through the snowy haze as we drove, then fading to a dull grey in the rearview mirror.

Dawson City is one of my favourite locales – small-town charm with the infamous soul of the wild days of the gold rush. It was here that I initiated my teammates; a Sourtoe cocktail was in order for that night, a shot of whisky that is taken with a human toe, a frost-bitten amputation donated by a trapper. They heard the traditional decree: “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips have gotta touch the toe.”

We set out on the iconic Dempster Highway the next morning. Finding campsites was surprisingly easy as there are several pullouts and abandoned gravel pits to 4WD into. The key is to find shelter from the wind. Our first night on the road saw temperatures fall to -35°C; we were now pushing the limits of our gear and our own stamina.

One thing you learn when camping in these temperatures is that you don’t want to sleep alone. That is, you want to have your deodorant, toothpaste, cellphone and a canister of propane in your sleeping bag to keep them from freezing. It’s already bad enough changing underwear and slipping your feet into boots that have sat in -35°C all night long. But the Titan XDs didn’t seem to mind as they started each morning.

The Robertson Mountain range is some of the most spectacular scenery along the 3,800-km route

A true sign of a good diesel is if it can start in freezing temperatures. The Cummins-equipped Titan XD did just, with only a slightly longer starting whir followed by compression ignition. Warm-ups came surprisingly fast, and the heated seats and steering wheel were always welcome relief from the frigid mornings.

The second day on the Dempster we arrived at the Arctic Circle, our first real milestone. Suitably cold and windy, we didn’t stay long and pushed on up the Dempster. As we passed into the Northwest Territories, the clouds cleared and the sun came out, and what great timing. We were entering the Richardson Mountains, one of the most spectacular and otherworldly scenes. The Dempster winds its way through wide-open tundra bathed in white that rolls into mysterious snow-blown mountain tops. Snow blows across the road, creating great drifts in an effort to bury man’s engineering accomplishments.

It’s easy to get distracted with all the beautiful scenery on the Dempster, but there are some very real hazards. Slick conditions and a trucker cutting the corner forced me guess where the road ended and ditch began. I lost, burying the Titan up to the hood. However, we were well prepared and even eager to test out the Gemstone Off-Road kinetic tow ropes. With a little shovelling and some hard tugs on the elastic rope, we were back on the road with no damage.

Once we made it to Inuvik, we took our first timid steps out onto the Mackenzie River. Driving the ice road is a surreal experience; the river ice gives off a brown hue as the road meanders with the river’s tributaries. Out on the Arctic Ocean, the ice becomes much clearer, enough that you can even see the bottom. Great cascading cracks sink down nearly three metres, showing the ice thickness. This is a very special place, the coast of Canada to the right, an endless expanse of windswept snow to the left.

Our expedition pulled back onto shore in Tuktoyaktuk, a friendly Inuit town. Driving out onto a point we arrived at lands’ end, the furthest north you can drive in Canada and our expedition’s “mission accomplished” point.

Driving to Canada’s Arctic is an immensely rewarding experience, one every Canadian should consider. For those who dare, adventurous roads, spectacular scenery, incredible wildlife, friendly towns, interesting characters and the “real” Canada awaits.

Our off-road portion of the trip was impassable due to heavy snowfall, but we still found some round-about routes that called for 4Low